High-stakes Entrance Examinations: A View from Brazil

INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION

Number 85 : Spring 2016

19

High-stakes Entrance Exami-
nations: A View from Brazil

Simon Schwartzman and Marcelo Knobel

Simon Schwartzman is a senior researcher at the Instituto de Estu-
dos do Trabalho e Sociedade (IETS), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. E-mail:
simon@iets.org.br. Marcelo Knobel is director of the Brazilian Na-
tional Nanotechnology Laboratory (LNNano) and professor at the
Cleb Wataghin Physics Institute, University of Campinas (Unicamp),
Campinas, Brazil. E-mail: knobel@if.unicamp.br.

I n Brazil, the growing dominance of the national exam for
secondary education as a massive, unified entrance exam
for higher education has several detrimental consequences.
Besides effectively shaping the high school curriculum,
with clear disadvantages for those who will not attend col-
lege, it restricts the diversity and regional characteristics
of the higher education sector. Similar criticism applies to
other countries that use national entrance exams. Some
suggestions for possible changes are given.

Worldwide, millions of students and their families con-
front the stressful process of admission to higher educa-
tion. Several countries employ national tests to determine
who gets admitted, a system often presented as democratic
and meritocratic, since all students take the same examina-
tions. In Brazil, the national exam for secondary education
( Exame Nacional do Ensino Medio, ENEM), is similar to the
Gaokao (or College Entrance Examination) used in China,
and similar high stakes entrance examinations in Turkey,
Chile, Russia, and other countries. The current public de-
bate about ENEM underscores its drawbacks, and parallels
similar debates taking place elsewhere.

Brazilian higher education is characterized by a small,
fairly well-financed network of selective federal (national)
universities with free tuition, enrolling 1.1 million students,
and a large private sector enrolling 5.4 million students. Ad-
ditionally, 0.6 million students enroll at regional state uni-
versities, also tuition free. In contrast to many other Latin
American countries, access to public universities in Brazil
is limited; students have (historically) competed for admis-
sion on the basis of entrance examinations developed by
each institution. Private institutions typically provide low-
cost evening courses to people who have not been success-
ful in gaining admission to public institutions. With the
exception of a few elite private universities, admission to
this sector is limited only by the student’s ability to pay, and
ENEM is not required.

The National Assessment of Secondary Education
(ENEM)

ENEM was introduced in 1998 as a voluntary assessment

of secondary education, in order to measure the quality of
school leavers. In 2010, the Ministry of Education and the
federal universities agreed that the exam would become
their main selection strategy for admission. The current
version is a content-based assessment of Portuguese lan-
guage, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, and
writing, given annually over two days and administered si-
multaneously in different locations throughout the coun-
try. Students who pass the exam can apply to two federal
institutions in any part of the country. The exam results are
also used to select low-income students for fellowships and
loans to study in private institutions; to determine eligibility
for free secondary-level vocational courses; and to provide
adults who meet specific minimum standards with second-
ary school completion certificates.

ENEM has been criticized for its high cost and vulner-
ability to corruption, well as for the quality and ideological
biases of its questions, particularly in the social sciences. It
costs about US$100 million for the government, and most
students with low income or coming from public schools
are exempt from the US$15 fee. In the past, the questions
were leaked or stolen, and security measures need to be
employed to limit the use of mobile devices to receive and/
or share the correct answers to the questions. Additionally,
there is growing concern about its potential to negatively
impact secondary and higher education.

In 2015, 9.5 million current and past school graduates
sat for the examination. Of these, 2.8 million competed for
205,000 places at federal institutions. The data show that
students coming from highly educated families and good
quality private or highly selective public institutions tend to
get the most successful scores and thus skew the scores up-
ward and make admission of local students more difficult.

TheN ecati ve I m pact of EN EM

The curriculum of secondary education in Brazil includes
more than 15 mandatory subjects, with no optional courses
and no flexibility or room for vocational study (available
only after completing the traditional curriculum). ENEM
reinforces this rigid standardization, turning all second-
ary schools, effectively, into preparation for the exam, even
though most of the students who take the exam will never
pursue higher education, and the majority of those who do
will study in the private sector, where a qualifying exam is
rarely required.

Although higher institutions vary enormously in size
and quality from research-intensive public universities to
small, private evening schools focused on the professions,
all provide the same type of degrees in addition to teach-
ing licenses. National legislation allows for short-term, vo-
cational degrees, and some lead to better job opportunities
than university degrees from low-quality institutions. How-

20

Number 85 : Spring 2016

INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION

ever, the system lacks a path to postsecondary vocational
careers, which currently account for less than 14 percent
of the postsecondary enrollment. The transformation of
ENEM into a different type of assessment could contribute
to the differentiation of higher education.

ENEM has also weakened links between federal uni-
versities and their local communities. The intent of estab-
lishing these institutions throughout the country was to
provide opportunities to the local populations, and con-
tribute to regional development through extension work
and applied research. ENEM was expected to make access
to higher education more democratic, since it would allow
students from anywhere to apply for a place at a federal uni-
versity anywhere in the country. Lack of financial support
for students with limited means to relocate for study has
made this unachievable. Furthermore, the universal accep-
tance of a national exam has actually made the system even
more elitist. Higher education institutions located in more
remote regions have filled some degree programs with priv-
ileged students from wealthier regions who can afford to
relocate, skewing the local applicant pool by pushing “cut-
off” scores higher.

ENEM was introduced in 1998 as a vol-
untary assessment of secondary educa-
tion, in order to measure the quality of
school leavers.

Criticisms of National Exams in China, Turkey, and
Chile

Other countries are also questioning their unified national
exams. In China, changing the Gaokao system is a compo-
nent of the future higher education reform, which proposes
to turn several hundred universities from academic to voca-
tional institutions more closely associated with the require-
ments of the job market. The Chinese government’s 2010
“Blueprint for Medium and Long-Term National Education
Reform and Development (2010-2020)” criticizes the sys-
tem because: (1) “a single examination defines a student’s
life/destiny”; (2) admissions and selection criteria are over-
ly reliant on the College Entrance Examination score, not
on comprehensive selection criteria; (3) there is only one set
of examination questions for all of the different types and
levels of higher education institutions; (4) the content and
style of these examinations are not aligned with the purpose
of Suzhi (more flexible and creative) education; (5) inequali-
ties in admission opportunities exist across provinces; and

(6) higher education institutions lack autonomy in admis-
sions procedures.”

Critics of the Turkish OSS (university entrance) exam
express similar concerns and, additionally, condemn the
reliance on cramming through private tutoring; the high
social selectivity; and the effect of the exam on discouraging
students from vocational paths.

In Chile, access to the country’s main public and pri-
vate universities is also determined by a national test, the
PSU (University Selection Test). Much of the criticism of
the exam is related to the social discrimination it reinforc-
es. A 2009 OECD review on the tertiary education in Chile
noted, “PSU contributes significantly to the unequal dis-
tribution of tertiary places between socioeconomic groups.
Pupils from municipal schools and poorer households are
much less likely than pupils from private schools and richer
households to pass the PSU. If they pass, they are less likely
to achieve the higher scores that unlock student support
and give access to the best universities.”

Proposals for Reform

In Brazil, the debate about ENEM is associated with the de-
bates about the reform of secondary education. The propos-
al is to move from a unified to a diversified curriculum — a
common core focused primarily on language and mathe-
matics, followed by elective paths allowing either for more
advanced academic studies, or for vocational choices for
those who will enter the labor market directly upon gradu-
ation. Secondary schools must offer both general and pro-
fessional education, and not a preparatory course oriented
toward admission to a public university that only a few will
attend. ENEM should test general verbal and mathematical
competencies, and include separate evaluations for the dif-
ferent paths that different students will pursue, including
certifications for technical careers. The outcomes of these
assessments could be used by higher education institutions
to select students, combined with other criteria appropri-
ate to the institutions’ academic and regional missions and
objectives.

Finally, it is also clear that the current practice of ad-
ministering paper tests nationally, once each year, is insane.
The exam should be offered at different times and in dif-
ferent locations, using modern technologies and devices
used elsewhere around the globe. National assessments are
not the cause of inequitable access to higher education, but
there is no reason to maintain a system that further exacer-
bates these inequalities. ■